Finland was the leading FDI country and Helsinki the leading Nordic FDI city in 2017, according to EY’s Nordic Attractiveness Survey 2018. 411 FDI projects landed in the Nordic countries, up 25% compared to 2016. Out of this record-braking number of FDI projects, Finland secured 191 projects, which is 44% more compared to 2016.
Helsinki was the most attractive location in the Nordics for the FDI projects – Helsinki secured 80 projects in Finland which was 13% more compared to 2016. Among the top 10 Nordic cities were also Espoo and Vantaa. Espoo, Helsinki and Vantaa all secured more FDI projects than their five-year-averages. The total of 111 FDI projects in Greater Helsinki represents 27% of all the projects landed in the Nordics.
While Helsinki was the highest-performing Nordic capital, Copenhagen ranked the second, overtaking Stockholm. Oslo dropped three places to joint seventh position. Positively, all top 10 cities in the Nordics secured more projects in 2017 than their five-year average performance.
“Finland and Greater Helsinki area have done a superb job in the European rankings of EY’s Attractiveness Survey 2018. This is probably because of the bold decisions by the country and metropolitan cities over the years and because Finland is a very stable, competitive and forward looking environment for foreign companies. But there are other factors”, says Marc Lhermitte, EY EMEIA Lead for Geostrategic Business Group. “Finland, and the Helsinki metropolitan area particularly, are well connected to the world not only geographically but also through their digital infrastructure. According to EY’s Attractiveness 2018 report, investors see the improvement of digital infrastructure as a priority area of action to improve Europe’s competitiveness in the digital age. And Helsinki is standing out in that domain already. One could say that Greater Helsinki is strong in the very tough competition of attracting FDI due a triple dimension: (1) its stable environment and very good geographic location; (2) its advanced digitalization and usage of digital infrastructure; and (3) thirdly, the area has a thriving startup ecosystem that is attracting foreign investors to the country.“
See more information on the EY’s Nordic Attractiveness report 2018 results:
Nordic results: EY
Finland-specific results: Business Finland
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